The Greatest Swordsman
by Girithal
Summary: Dedicated to Mataras and Marcus Cersy. For helping inspire this. Their OC's belong to them and mine belong to me. Sorry for the strange post and re-post. There were some changes I needed to do.
1. Chapter Uno

The Beginning of It All (OC POV) **November 6, 2022 12:30 PM JST**

The last few minutes. The servers are warming up they say. I don't know how well this day is going to go. The official stream for the launch is going crazy. In about four days, nearly 10,000 copies have been purchased. Although, I was one of the very lucky few who won the game by competing in a contest. I know thats cheap, but hey, free is free. Anyways, back on topic. I've managed to get in contact with a beta tester, she seems nice and all, but she's kind of "shifty," if you know what I mean. She told me whats easiest on the first floor, and what quests to take. She even told me where some hidden stuff is. I look back at the time and the download percentage.

 **12:45 PM 87% download**

I decide to close the stream to speed up the download process. I stand up from my chair and stretch and my eyes are drawn to the mirror. Yeah, not much to go for. Mind you, I'm not one of those fat, pale nerds who sit inside all day. It's just, when people look at me, they think,

"Meh, just another average joe."

But yeah, thats what I am. 23 and single. The most interesting thing people see is my height. 6'5 ain't nothing to sneeze at. I walk out of my room to the kitchen to get a glass of water before the dive. The water here is a little iron-y for my taste, but I've gotten used to it. I've only been here for about three months. I chose two semesters abroad in Japan, but no one else wanted to follow me. So Im on my own for a while.

As I walk back upstairs a theme comes into my head for some reason. I kind of remember what its from to. A movie I saw as a teenager. "The Best Performer" or something like that. I look at my computer screen.

 **12:50 PM 100% download Ready for Play**

I smirk. I start up the game and put on the helmet. The severs should be running 10 minutes before launch. I've already gone through the calibration process so I can get right in. Smiling, I say the words I'll soon regret.

" **Link, Start!" 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

 **12:55 PM Town of Beginnings**

The bright light started to leave. I look around I already see a couple tens of players looking around. Most of them seem to enchanted by everything to notice a new player spawn in.

The player who's dressed in all purple. And no, I did not choose a female avatar, purple is my favorite color. Heck, I even gave my avatar purple hair to match my IRL dyed hair. I ignored the gawking players and started to walk out of the town. On the way out of town, I saw a number of people. Two guys were heading out of town, one with long reddish/pinkish hair and a katana at his hip, the other had short black hair and a mature face with a medium length blade. Another guys was walking around the shops looking at things to buy. He had longer black hair, almost covering his eyes, which themselves were almost black too. He was adorned in crimson and maroon clothing. He had a longer sword strapped to his back. Continuing further, another boy came running behind me. He also had black hair, though it only went down to his neck line. His more prominent features though, were his snow white jacket over his black shirt and his sky blue eyes. He had a much shorter sword on him, though not short enough to be a dagger. I continued until I was out of town to where my beta tester friend said the best hunting grounds were. Once I reached there, I realized I had not even looked at my own sword, let alone equip it. I opened up my menu to see my regular clothing skill bubbles. Then I went to my inventory to look at my sword. It wasn't much to look at but was alright. As soon as I tapped it to see its strength, my eyes almost blew out of my sockets.

 **Royale Sword Rank: S Str: 12 Skl:5 EXP: 0/20,000**

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. After I had gotten over the fact that I had gotten the best rank sword in the game, I had to stop and think over the sword. Why was this S-class item so weak? The info broker had said that the standard strength of a sword right of the gate was anywhere from 10 to 20. So my sword was actually on the weaker side of the spectrum. What gives? Then I saw the thing at the bottom. An experience bar for the sword. That didn't make sense. Even the developers said that the sword you got was the sword you got. No improving it by leveling up. No special abilities on them. The only way to upgrade without having it be a chest or mob drop, was to either make one yourself or try to combine two together. Both needing a Blacksmith to assist you. After trying to think of any loophole to those rules, I only thought of one logical explanation. This sword must have been added either without the devs knowledge or as an amazing one in a trillion chance spawn item. A ding in my ears soon brought me out of my deep thoughts. I looked at my menu and saw three messages in my inbox. One was from the game saying that it had officially launched. The other two were a bit stranger.

 **To: Morado From: SAO Devs Subject: Royale**

 **Congratulations!** **  
You were chosen at random to receive one of the most powerful items in the game. The Royale Sword!** **  
We are sure you have figured out by now how this special item works, but there is something we forgot to add to the items description.** **  
The sword will take half of the EXP that you receive.**

 **Because of this, you will level up slower than most, but you should be able to fight just as well as (if not better than) most players.** **  
Have fun!**

 **-SAO Dev Team**

The second letter read like this:

 **To: Morado** **  
From: Kayaba Akihiko Subject: Congrats and Uniqueness**

 **Hello, Morado** **  
My name is Akihiko Kayaba and I would personally like to congratulate you on winning the contest. I hope you find my game...** **  
entertaining.** **  
Best of luck to you.**

After reading both messages, you could say I was both shocked and thrilled. If I could play my cards right, I could easily be one of the most powerful players in the game. I drew my sword to look at it. It was quite heavy and a golden color. It looked like a sword fit for a king. When I saw it, I felt kind of inadequate to wield it. But I quickly forgot about this when I suddenly started to glow.

 **0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

 **5:45 PM** **  
Town of Beginnings**

I looked around and saw that I wasn't the only one who looked confused. Every player on the server was here in the town square. Everyone was looking around with a worried look. I heard a beeping sound and look around and in my menu. Nothing. Then I realized everyone could hear it. I looked up and saw it. A flashing red hexagon saying **WARNING**. The hexagon then multiplied and multiplied until the entire sky was blood red with warning signs. Then things got really strange. The sky started to bleed. The liquid soon started to catch before it could hit anyone. It slowly started to gather into a shape. The mass soon stood to become a massive hooded man wearing white gloves. Then it spoke.

"Hello everyone. My name is Akihiko Kayaba. Welcome to the unparalleled experience that is, Sword Art Online.

As many of you might have seen, there is something missing from your menu. The logout button. This is not a defect. Repeat, this is not a defect. This is the way SAO was programed. Also, if your avatar's HP reaches 0, the NervGear will send a electromagnetic signal

straight to your brain, stopping your heart and ending your life. There are now 213 less players than when the game launched. There is now only one way to escape, you must complete Sword Art Online. As an added bonus I have added something in the inventory of every player. Please, have a look."

I opened up my inventory to find something I didn't expect. A mirror. As I looked into it, a bright light shown around me. But it wasn't like the teleport light. This was a white light. It soon died down, and I didn't feel any different. I heard the people around me gasp and shout. I wondered why and looked down at the mirror again. I was shocked to find that it wasn't my avatar's face looking back at my, but my own, real life face. Purple hair and everything. I looked back at the giant figure that was Kayaba, expecting him to say more.

"Now you might be wondering. Why would Akihiko Kayaba, creator of SAO and NervGear, do this? The answer is simple. To control the fate of a world of my own design. That is all. This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official start of Sword Art Online."

And with that, the giant figure started to melt and eventually shatter. I look around at all of the scared faces with mouths and eyes wide open. A young woman with long chestnut hair, a little girl with her brown hair up in twin ponytails, another with short pink hair. We all stood there, processing whats happening.

Then the chaos started. People reacting in rage, dispare, and some in emotionless denial. I stood there with a blank look on my face. I suddenly remembered the song I was humming before I logged in. "From Now On" from "The Greatest Showman." I also the repeated line from the song. I swore to follow the song and fight my way out this sick game.

 **And we will come back home And we will come back home Home again.**


	2. Chapter Dos

**Chapter 2: Will of Iron, Tongues of Salt and Fangs of Ill**

 **December 2**

 **15:45 Aincrad Standard time**

 **(Morado POV)**

One month. Its felt like more than that. Roughly 2000 people are dead. Of those 2000, 800 of them were beta testers when the game came out. I never figured out why most of them died though. Of the 200 remaining, some of them went into hiding from the other players. Others decided to step up as leaders. One of those people is holding a meeting of those who are strong enough and brave enough to hear what he has to say. After a month of thousands of people out in the first floor fields, EXP was pretty hard to come by. Sure, there are tons of spots where mobs spawn, so all a player has to do is sit and wait. Sadly, most mobs didn't drop a lot of EXP. And the ones that do don't spawn very often. That didn't stop some players though. I've heard that most of the people at this meeting are around LV 8 at the weakest to LV 15 at the strongest.

Me? I'm at level five. And I have the Royale Sword to thank for that. When people see me, they almost laugh at how weak I appear.

Though its not all bad. Thanks to my not staying in the Town of Beginnings and going out to fight, I've learned much more about my supposed high-tier weapon and some sword skills that I received. I learned that when a player levels up, the amount of XP required for the next level up grows. However, this is not the case for the sword. Its level cap stays at 20,000. **(A/N: compare it to the leveling up in Overwatch)** At least, its stayed like that so far. The cap might rise as the sword gets higher in level. As for its dynamic with me, I've come up with a theory. I believe that my level combined with the swords level is my TRUE level. If that is the case, then my true level is about nine, very close to ten. As for my sword skills, so far I've received three.

 **Sword Skill: Kings Slash**

 **% Chance of critical hit is equal to one quarter of Skill LV of weapon**

 **Sword Skill: Joker Rush**

 **Unleash a short flurry of blows that causes opponents to stagger**

 **Cooldown: Two minutes**

 **Sword Skill: Jacks Retaliation**

 **Accumulated damage is cut in half and put into next attack**

 **Cooldown: Five minutes**

Whether or not the sword is responsible for naming those skills, I will never know. But now is not the time to be thinking of that. The meeting is about to start.

 **0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

 **Tolbana, 1st floor of Aincrad**

 **16:00 AST**

 **"** **Greetings everyone! Thank you all for coming. My name is Diabel, and in this game, the job I rolled is Knight!"**

Everyone, myself included, gave a chuckle. Everyone knew there was no class system in this game. The turnout for this meeting was actually pretty good, about 30 to 40 people. Diabal himself looked to be about the same age as me, maybe a little older. He was one of the more recognizable players out there with his longer blue hair and shield strapped to is back.

 **"** **Ok, ok. Settle down,"** Diabel said kind of exasperatedly. **"Now the reason I called you all here today. Yesterday my party and I found the boss room."** I raised my brows at this. People around me gave gasps and looks of shock. " **Now I know this is big, so its our job as the most capable players here to show everyone this game CAN be beaten. I think our best bet is to-"**

 **"** **Wait just a minute! I got something to say!"** A voice came from behind everyone. The source bounded down the stairs in only a couple of steps. As he landed, I got a good look at him. He looked like a guy on the corner of an alleyway that housed the more rough characters, or maybe a bouncer in from top a club. Except that he was short. Quite a bit shorter than Diabel. He had spiky orange hair that almost looked like a soccer ball, but if the black spots were out from the ball. He was also sporting a chest piece of armor that looked like big black scales.

" **My name's Kibaou, got that! And I got something to say to some of the people here."** He was very loud, even from where I was sitting near the back.

 **"** **Kibaou, was it? Your referring to the ex-beta testers aren't you."** Diabel questioned.

 **"** **Thats right, any of them here should come out and say it. They've done this all before, so they went and cleared all the good hunting spots, and took the easiest quests too. It's there fault that 2000 people are dead. We should punish them by making them give up their secrets, and items too!"**

If I'm honest with myself, he makes semi-valid points. But, there are some things that Kibaou obviously doesn't know. I can't just let this continue. Someone has to put this guy in his place But, as I go to stand up, someone beat me to it.

 **"** **Can I say something?"** The first thing I noticed was the axe on this guys back. I looks heavy, so I bet this guys got some muscle on him. His frame seems to agree. His eyes seem to bore into Kibauo has he gets closer. He looks like he knows a thing or two about the same thing I'm thinking of. But just in case, I start to go down as the big man starts talk.

 **"** **Name's Agil. Kibauo, right,"** the man, now I know as Agil, questions.

 **"** **Yeah, whats the deal?"** Kibauo responds, a bit on edge.

Agil pulls a small book out of his pocket. I imminently recognize it as the guide book. My beta tester contact, who I first met when the game launched as an info broker named Argo, gave me one after all the chaos started to die down.

 **"** **Recognize this? Its a guide book. You know who was handing these out? The ex-beta testers."** Kibauo looks like he got caught trying to call a red car green. Agil turns to the crowd.

 **"** **Listen up! Everyone had equal access to this book. Still, lots of people died. That, to me, doesn't seem like the beta testers fault."** Agil stated. Kibauo looked like he had a rebuttal to Agil's statement. I chose now to make my presence known.

 **"** **Hey! I'll add to that!"** I walked down the steps to the stage. I felt everyones eyes on me.

" **My name is Morado, and I'd like to point out a flaw in Kibaou's statement earlier."**

" **Yes, go on."** Diabel pushed.

 **"** **It's not exactly a good thing to point out, but from one of my good friends knowledge, most of the ex-beta testers are among the dead."** To say that most of the people there were shocked would be right.

 **"** **Wait, how can you prove that?"** Kibauo accused me.

 **"** **This friend of mine is not only the best info broker in the game, but an ex-beta tester herself. She's seen the Monument of life and recognized almost 800 beta testers on that wall. Meaning theres only about 200 left. Out of the 8000 players still left, its unlikely that any of them are even here."** I reasoned against Kibuao. That seemed to shut him up. He trudged back to a spot in the theater. Agil also went back to his spot and I to mine. After the argument, Diabel read from the guide book about the boss and its attacks, weapons and abilities. He stated that the best course of action is to divide into parties to arrange in battle. I thought that was a good idea, but I knew imminently that people would ignore me because of my level. I was proven wrong however.

 **"** **Hey, how come you ain't partying up?"** I looked to see Agil standing above me. I just now noticed that he was just as tall as me, if I were standing.

 **"** **Well, my situation is a bit odd and people don't really think of as an asset they can use. And don't see anyone jumping at the opportunity to have me in their-"** I was cut of be a screen appearing in front of me.

 **Agil is inviting you to his party with you.**

 **Do you accept?**

 **X:Yes O:No**

 **"** **Well, your offering. So I guess I'll join."** I tapped the X button and was accepted in the party. Underneath my health bar were two more.

 **LV 5 Morado HP: 450/450**

 **LV 12 Agil HP: 725/725**

 **LV 14 Diabel HP: 575/575**

Agil raised his brow but said nothing. I'm sure I'll be questioned by the two eventually. Diabel closed the meeting soon after and was talking with the other party leaders. Agil stayed behind to talk. I stayed as well, cause both of my party members were still here. Soon, people moved to fountain in the middle of town. I decided to try and get my level up before the raid. I want out of town into the fields to wait for mobs to spawn. After two hours, I got a message from Diabel.

 **New Message**

 **From: Diabel**

 **To: Morado, Agil**

 **Subject: Raid Briefing**

 **Meet me in my room at the Silver Coin Inn at 22:00.**

 **We will go over our party's plan.**

 **See you both soon.**

 **0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

 **Silver Coin Inn, Tolbana**

 **22:00 AST**

 **"** **All right, besides us three, there is another party of three members. The rest are in parties of anywhere from 10 to 15. Our job is to lead and coordinate the bigger parties against Illfang. I'll take squads A, B and C, Agil takes D, E and F, and Morado takes G, H and the group of three. My squads and I will attack the boss directly when its vulnerable. Agil, your squads will be weakening and stalling it to make way for my squads. Morado, you and your squads are to take out the minions that spawn. Any questions?"** Neither of us say anything. Our roles are clear.

" **Good. Now can I address the elephant in the room," Oh boy, it comes. He and Agil turn to me. "Morado, whats with your level? My friends tell me that your one of the best fighters on the floor. So why are you so low?"** I frown a bit. My level actually went up to six as I was grinding, same with my sword. Its at level 9 now. I pull out my sword and put it on the table as I explain.

 **"** **Thats the reason. This is the Royale Sword. It was put in into the game late as a random spawn sword for a player. It is an S-class item in disguise. It works like this; I gain XP by doing something. I get half of the XP and the sword gets the other half. This way, it balances out how strong it will become. In actuality, I should be level 15."**

" **I see. So you were randomly given this sword at launch. Thats why nobody wanted to partner up with you, they saw you level and doubted your strength."** Diabel thought out loud. **"In any case, we should rest for the big day tomorrow. Sleep well, men."**

 **"** **Thanks, see you tomorrow."** Agil said as he walked out. I left soon after with a nod to Diabel. He is the best choice for leader, in my opinion. And it seems like most of the others agree. I walk downstairs to the first floor of the inn. My room is on the first floor, but I needed some grub after my grinding session today. I purchased some food from a NPC vender and made my way down the street while eating. I heard some voices in front of me and looked up. There were some players sitting and eating on a stone bench. That must be the other party of three going to the raid tomorrow. I didn't want to disturb them, so I doubled back to the inn. Sleep was good that night. It felt like I wasn't about to march my possible death tomorrow.

 **0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

 **December 3**

 **Outside of 1st floor boss room**

 **12:35 AST**

 **"** **All right, everyone! This is the moment of truth. We are going to go in there and prove that we can beat this game. Are you all with me?!"** Diabel exclaimed. A cacophony of shouts and yells sounded in agreement.

 **"** **All right. Let's go!"** He said as the doors opened. All 65 of us charged in, blades up. At first it was quiet. No one made a sound as we looked for our opponent. Then he roared and fell from the ceiling. It looked like a giant, red, fat kangaroo wearing a medieval helmet. A hand axe in one hand and a big leather shield in the other. His name and health bars appeared above him.

 **Illfang, the Kobold Lord**

 **LV:?**

 **HP:2400**

Smaller creatures wearing suits of armor and carrying little staffs also appeared.

 **Ruined Kobold Sentinel**

 **LV:?**

 **HP:400**

 **"** **Now, charge!"** Diabel shouted. Most of the players charged at Illfang while my squads and I charged at the minions. One of the minions charged straight at me. Our weapons clashed with a small spark shower. I side stepped a slash from the kobold and countered it, doing a bit of damage. It stepped back and started to charge a skill. I raise my sword to block the attack. It does a bit of damage, but not as much had I not been defending. I activate my Joker Rush skill, and unleash six quick blows to the armored monster. The damage was a little less than a normal attack, but I followed up with a normal slash while the kobold was reeled back and staggered.

Another squad had already defeated their minion, so they came to back me up. I took a bit of time to access the battle. Illfang was already down to half health and I still counted the same number of players as when we started. I couldn't see the other parties health, but I could tell that these guys can recognize when they should step back and heal. I healed what little damage I took during the fight. Because my HP is significantly lower than most players here, I have to be carful in what fights I take. There is a term for someone like me in gaming terms. Glass Cannon. My avatar is much weaker than most others, but my equipment and abilities are much better than most.

Mora sentinels spawned in and one started to charged at me. The cooldown on Joker Rush had worn off, so I activated it and jabbed at it. I followed it up with another slash, but this time the slash glowed purple on the blade and the kobold took more damage than normal. That must have been Kings Slash. The swords skill level was at 10 now, so the percent of a critical hit was two and a half. After taking down the second kobold, I heard another big roar. I looked and saw that Illfang was now at one health bar. He tossed away his axe and shield and grabbed a handle to a blade on his back. The guide book said that he uses a talbar when he gets down in health.

 **"** **Stand back! I got this!"** Diabel shouted as he ran forward, shield in front of him and sword up to attack. What is he doing? That wasn't a part of the plan. Illfang drew his weapon, but it wasn't a talbar like the guide book said.

It was an nōdachi, much more dangerous. Illfang jumped and started to bounce off the pillars in the room. Each time he jumped, he struck Diabel with his sword, causing Diabel's health to go down at an alarming rate. Eventually, Illfang stopped and landed right in front of Diabel. He proceeded to slam the flat of his sword against Diabel, causing him to go flying. As he flew across the room, I looked at his health bar. He wasn't going to make it. Seeing that caused some thing to break inside me. I felt like all of the rage against this game was bubbling out of control. I gave an angry shout and dashed towards Illfang, activating my Jacks Retaliation skill on the way. All my built up anger was unleashed on the boss when I hit it, doing massive damage thanks to the skill. I slashed at it a couple more times before I was pushed back by the nōdachi. The impact knocked me out of my rampage and caused me to look at my health bar. I wasn't doing good. Agil was doing better. Diabel…..

His was gone. Diabel was dead.

*fwish*

The sound of cloth in the wind broke me out my trance. I looked up and saw the party of three charging at the boss. One boy had a face of fury clearly plastered on it. The other boy had no facial expression, but his eyes showed a dark hatred for losing someone. The last was clearly female, but I couldn't see her face under her hood. They dashed at the boss, the raging boy going first, swinging his sword hard to knock the boss of balance. The second boy slashed faster than I thought was possible in this game. The first boy called for a switch and the girl came in with her rapier, unleashing a skill similar to my Joker Rush. This caused the boss to take significant damage and retaliate, swinging the massive sword towards the girl. The sword missed by a fraction of an inch and destroyed her hood. She called for a switch, and the two boys leapt up, slashing and stabbing at their hardest. Eventually, one of them sent out a wordless bellow and cut the boss all the way up its stomach. The boss' health finally depleted to nothing. It gave one last roar before shattering in a shower of green/blue polygons.

All was silent for a moment. You could hear a pin drop as everyone stood still.

The fanfare of trumpets broke the silence. A big sign saying "congratulations" showed above everyone. All of the tension was released as everyone cheered and celebrated in victory. I saw Agil going up to congratulate the party of three that took down the boss. I looked down to see a congrats and rewards screen. I closed this right away because I was still in shock. It seems I was the only one who noticed Diabel wasn't there to celebrate the victory. How could everyone be so happy when some died today? But I realized that, though Diabel was dead, he would want everyone to continue on and beat the game. I was still sad at the loss of a friend, but I vowed to continue on for his vision.

 **"** **Stop cheering!"** a gruff voice shouted from behind. Kibaou was on his knees with a sad/angry look on his face.

 **"** **Why'd you do it? Why'd you let Diabel die?!"** He shouted at the boy who dealt the last blow.

 **"** **Let him die?"** the boy questioned, It sounded like he no idea what Kibaou was talking about.

 **"** **That's what I said. Admit it. You knew the technique the boss was gonna use. You could have told us. Then Diabel would have stood a chance. He wouldn't have had to die!"** Kibaou shout to the boy and the crowd. The crowd seemed to murmur about Kibaou's point. He had a reason to say it.

 **"** **I know why he knew!"** one guy in the crowd pointed at the boy. **"He used to be a beta tester! Think about it. He knew the boss' attack patterns. He knew, but he kept it from us!"** Kibaou gave a sniff. **"And, I bet he's not the only beta tester here. Come on, show yourselves!"**

Everyone gave nervous glances around them, wondering who would step up.

 **"** **Hey, calm down."** Agil tried to reason with the boy who accused the beta tester. But before anything could happen, a sinister sounding chuckle came from the other side of the hall. The accused beta tester stood up and turned.

 **"** **So, you guys think I used to be a beta tester. Its not cool to put me in the same class as those noobs."** The tone of his voice sounded almost condescending.

 **"** **Wha-, what'd you say?"** Kibaou questioned fearfully.

" **You heard me. Most of 1000 people who scored a slot in SAO's beta were rookies. They were so green, they didn't even know how to level up. Heck, even you guys are better than they were. But me, I'm nothing like those guys, man. During the beta, I made it to floors that were higher than any of the other testers, thats a fact. I knew about the boss, cause I fought ton of monsters with way better sword skills on higher floors. I know a bunch of other things too, more than you can imagine, more than any info broker."** I started to doubt this guy. Sure, he looked good, but I did my research. The highest floor in the beta that the testers got to was five, but this guy was talking like he want higher than that. According to Agro, this boy was called "Kirito" in the beta, so I assume he kept the name.

 **"** **What the heck? If thats true, then your worse then a beta tester. You're a filthy cheater, thats what you are!"** Kibauo sounded upset. The crowd started to shout and call things too.

 **"** **He's a beta tester and a cheater. He's a beater!"** One guy from the crowd shouted, the others seemed to agree.

 **"** **A Beater? Yeah, thats good. I like it."** Kirito smirked. The others gave gasps of disbelief. **"OK. You can call me a Beater. Just don't confuse me with those beta testers anymore."** he selected something from his menu. A black, knee-length coat appeared on him in a flash. He smirked and turned away. Kibaou stood up and was about to say something, ut the boy in red stopped him.

 **"So you think you're better than us, you son of a-"** Kibaou's voice was silenced by the presence of a blade at his throat. The sword scratched his neck, leaving a red mark. Kibaou found the eyes of the one wielding it to be even more frightening than Illfang's mightiest roar.

The boy's dark eyes blazed with the wrath of an impending storm. They were devoid of any patience, pity or compassion. They were the eyes of a man ready to kill without hesitation. Kibaou found that the sight locked up his vocal chords.

 **"Are you aware of the law of the sword?"** the boy said in a quiet tone that was somehow more frightening than any amount of yelling that Kibaou had expected. When the loudmouth didn't respond, the boy continued, " **The law of the sword is this: if he is more dedicated than you, he will win. Kirito has more drive than anyone here, and** ** _that's_** **why he won against Illfang. You were just happy to sit back and let others do the heavy work, Kibaou. That's why at the end of every encounter, you will be the loser. Not because he was a beta tester, not because he has become a beater. But simply because he has the drive to win. Because he understands the law of the sword."**

He then took the blade down and walked back to Kirito and they left up the stairs. I looked at Kibaou, who had a face of both fright and hatred towards the boys. Followed his eyes up and thought to myself,

 _'_ _Those two are putting targets on their backs. But they don't seem to care. They know how to take care of themselves. Its time I take charge of the situation.'_

 **"** **Alright, now that that is settled. Shall we proceed?"** I shouted to the group. They all looked back with confused looks.

 **"** **Why? Without Diabel, why should we even move on?"** a voice said somberly.

 **"** **Because thats what he would have wanted. Are we going to stay down with our head between our knees, and let those two smug beaters laugh at us? Or are we going to fight, and win this?!"** That seemed to snap everyone out of their stupor. Most gave cheers, some halfhearted, and went to follow the two boys, who have probably activated the warp gate for floor two. I felt kind of bad calling the two boys out like that, but it was needed to get the others going again. The victory was bitter sweet, but the game must continue.

/end of chapter

 **As you see above, I've decided that this story is to COINCIDE with Mataras' Toa/Slayer of Aincrad during the Aincrad portions of those stories. I would like to state that this is a FAN STORY. I no way, shape or form is this completely copying. The character Mataras will only make appearances like the one above. Everything else will follow Morado and his story. Marcus' OC, Ion, should appear soon.**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading! See you soon!**


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